Down To The Bottom
Neither the Japanese nor the American vessel will be the first to make the descent to the Ocean Everest. The U.S. bathyscaphe Trieste, a crude undersea blimp, floated down to the Challenger Deep in 1960. But the Trieste just sat there for 20 minutes, unable to explore. The new robots will be able to conduct the first mobile search of the hadal zone-the virtually unexplored ocean depths below 6,000 meters-where, some scientists believe, there may be hidden pockets of life....